Sandra Brown

Robert J. Scholes

Eric O. Odada

John F. Fitzgerald

Barbara V. Braatz

Augustine O. Isichei

As atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases continue to increase, so does the potential for atmospheric warming and associated climate change. In an effort to address the threat of global climate change, 155 countries signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992. As of the first session of the Conference of the Parties, 128 nations had ratified the Convention. Among their other commitments, Parties to the Convention must develop and periodically update national inventories of net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions using comparable methodologies, and must develop and implement national programs to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. To further the development of emission inventories and mitigation options within the African context, 64 governmental and non-governmental scientists and policy analysts from 23 nations gathered at a workshop near Johannesburg, South Africa from 29 May to 2 June 1995. The workshop focused on forestry, land-use change, and agriculture, because these sectors not only are responsible for the majority of emissions from the continent and provide promising opportunities for emissions mitigation, but also are a vital component of African economic growth and development. This book presents the workshop's major conclusions and findings, as well as individual papers that were prepared for the workshop, each of which was peer-reviewed and accepted for publication as part of the workshop process. The papers cover four areas: (1) issues are associated with data collection and emission factor determination; (2) problems associated with applying the IPCC inventory methodologies in Africa; (3) results of national inventory assessments in Africa; and (4) possible emissions mitigation options and methods for evaluating their potential viability. As the first book dedicated solely to greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation options in Africa, this will be an invaluable resource to scientists, policymakers, and development specialists interested in global climate change and Africa.

Johannesburg, South Africa 29 May – June 1995

African Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories and Mitigation Options: Forestry, Land-Use Change, and Agriculture

Daniel O. Olago

The Second International Symposium on the East African Lakes was held from 10-15 January 2000 at Club Makokola on the southern shore of Lake Malawi. The symposium was organized by the International Decade for the East African Lakes (IDEAL), a research consortium of African, European and North American scientists interested in promoting the investigations of African Great Lakes as archives of environmental and climatic dynamics. Over one hundred African, European and North American scientists with special expertise in the tropical lakes participated in the symposium which featured compelling presentations on the limnology, climatology, palaeoclimatology and biodiversity of the East African Lakes. It is their papers that comprise this book. The large lakes of East Africa are important natural resources that are heavily utilized by their bordering countries for transportation, water supply, fisheries, waste disposal, recreation and tourism. The lakes are unique in many ways: they are sensitive to climatic change and their circulation dynamics, water-column chemistry and biological complexity differ significantly from large lakes at higher latitudes; they have long, continuous, high resolution records of past climatic change; and they have rich and diverse populations of endemic organisms. These unique properties and the significance of the palaeolimnological records demand and attract research interest from around the world.

The East African Great Lakes: Limnology, Palaeolimnology and Biodiversity

Eric O. Odada

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